Deleted Scene: The Fight
by mrs.morris
Summary: Scene addition for The Fight. This story takes place immediately following Zack and Slater's hand shake. It is an attempt to tell what happened to Joanna.


The Fight

(After the ending)

After Zack and Slater finished their handshake, they looked down at their wet clothes again. "Well, I promised Kelly a dance, but there is no way she'll be able to dance with me now!" Zack said pulling his punch stained pants away from body. The punch had stopped trickling down his leg, and was now starting to feel sticky.

"Maybe if it is a fast dance you could dry out," Slater suggested unbuttoning his shirt a little, then stopping when he realized the entire senior class was still watching them.

"Slater, the jitterbug wouldn't get these clothes dry," Zack replied. He tugged on his shirt, "I think we owe a few other people apologies too." He nodded his head toward his fellow seniors who were in no way hiding their amusement.

"Yeah, you're right, preppie. Not only did we act like jerks toward each other, but we were jerks to our friends, and especially to Joanna." Slater said glumly.

"Yeah, we were such jerks. We didn't care about hurting her at all. Maybe she'll let us speak to her long enough to say 'I'm sorry,'" Zack tried to convince himself. Slater shrugged hopelessly looking down at his feet. As he looked up, he noticed Kelly, Jessie, and Lisa were walking toward him and Zack. Slater rolled his eyes toward them to warn Zack that they were about to have company. Zack shifted his gaze from Slater to the girls. Jessie, Kelly, and Lisa were trying their best to stifle their giggles by looking at the ground as they approached Zack and Slater, but they couldn't help stealing an occasional glance at the guys' punch stained attire and let a few giggles escape.

"Glad to see you guys made up," Kelly said softly. Her blue eyes were twinkling as she looked back and forth at Zack and Slater. A grin emerged, not because of how goofy the two guys looked, but because she was genuinely happy to see they were best friends again.

"Yeah, me too," Jessie chimed, but she didn't stop there. There was no way Jessie could pass up and opportunity to poke fun at her best pal and her on and off again boyfriend. "For your sakes, I hope the ridiculousness of Belding's toupee will be the talk of the school Monday—not your macho mating war for Bayside's newest girl," she shook her head as she spoke, raised her eyebrows, and crossed her arms letting them know they had outdone themselves this time. Zack and Slater slid their hands in their pockets and shuffled their feet. Somehow, Jessie had a way with words that could make someone go from feeling low to feeling lower.

Even though Lisa could see the guys were embarrassed, she couldn't pass up the chance to have a little fun herself. "Yeah, and after the ridiculous toupee story, your punch bowl drama will be the second link on the gossip chain, helping push my social faux pau on down the line. Thanks, guys, for being such… guys," Lisa's eyes smiled as she teased them. Zack and Slater rolled their eyes.

"Anything for a friend, Lisa," Slater smiled mockingly. Then, he shifted his expression from sarcastic to sincere. "Look, we're really sorry about acting like such jerks. We really put a damper on the Senior party… no pun intended."

"Yeah, can you forgive us?" Zack asked quietly. His eyes searched theirs pleadingly.

"Of course, we forgive you two. It isn't like this is the first time we've seen you butt heads over a girl," as Jessie spoke, she moved behind Kelly and placed her hands on Kelly's shoulders. Zack and Slater chuckled in amusement.

"Was I not worth a fat lip or a black eye?" Kelly giggled.

"Kelly, I went through my share of fat lips and black eyes for you—Slater just never happened to be the guy who gave them to me. " Zack flashed his signature grin causing her to blush, but she couldn't help holding his gaze and smiling back at him.

Lisa looked from Zack to Kelly slightly tilting her head and raising her eyebrows as if she sensed something the others didn't. Then, she sighed and threw her hands up into the air. "Well, if you all will excuse me, I'm going back to my date. He's not getting any younger," Lisa turned toward the booth where she had left Darrin, her freshman date.

"Good!" The rest of the gang chimed. Lisa's eyes widened, and she jumped. "Dating a freshman is a big enough scandal, Lisa," Jessie teased.

"Har de har har," Lisa muttered rolling her eyes without turning toward the gang. Then, she put on her most charming smile as she approached Darrin and slid into the booth beside him.

"I need to get going," Zack said, "before these pants become permanently pink," he laughed as he realized, yet again, how stupid he looked.

Slater gave a point toward the door of the Max decidedly, "Yeah, if I don't hit the shower, I'm going to be so sticky the only females I'll be attracting are ants!"

"We'll see you both on Monday," Kelly said as Slater gave her and Jessie friendly pats on the back to say goodbye. He stopped at the Max's steps and watched as Zack started to give Kelly a hug goodbye. Kelly giggled as Zack, laughing too, bent at the hips, spread his arms wide, and leaned toward Kelly who was trying to accept his hug while also trying to keep her dress dry. She gave him a quick peck on the cheek instead. When he reached Jessie she just stuck out her hand for a shake. Zack met up with Slater at the steps. Jessie and Kelly waved goodbye giggling and shaking their heads, then, walked over toward Screech.

"Well, Slater, the senior party wasn't a total bust. We didn't get to dance with our dream girl, but at least we were able to leave with our friendship intact." They both hopped up the step to the door. Slater pushed it open with one arm, but turned toward Zack blocking the door. He looked up and down at Zack, then, down at himself.

"I wish I could say the same for our dignity!" Slater chuckled as he turned and both boys exited the Max.

***

Monday, at school, Zack caught up with Slater at his locker. "Have you seen Joanna? I've been looking all over for her to apologize."

"Me too, Preppy. I knew she'd be avoiding us, but I didn't think she could avoid us this well!" He leaned up against his locker.

"This school isn't big enough for her to hide this well. She must've not come today," Zack replied scanning the hallway. "Maybe Mr. Belding could help us. If anyone knows for sure if she was here today it's him."

"Ok, let's go."

"Joanna. Well, thanks to your welcoming committee stunt, she talked her parents into transferring her to Valley," Mr. Belding told them sitting up in his chair. As he spoke he waved his arms, "I tried to convince them that there wouldn't be any more hallway wrestling matches, but their minds were made up. Joanna wanted to leave before it got too deep into the school year. She said this just wasn't the school for her," he shrugged once he finished.

"Gosh, Mr. B, I don't know what to say," Slater said.

"Me neither," Zack frowned.

"I never thought I'd see golden tongued Morris at a loss for words," he paused for a moment and looked from Slater to Zack. He took a deep breath before he began again, "I know you boys were going to apologize, so I'm going to try to not sound harsh. But the truth of the matter is, it's too late to apologize. What's done is done. Sometimes being sorry just isn't enough, and sometimes," his voice took on his trademark high pitched tone, "sometimes, you just can't fix undo what's been done—not even with an apology," as he was speaking, he made his way between Zack and Slater, one hand on each of their shoulders.

"We see that now, Mr. Belding," Zack replied. Then, he and Slater turned to leave Mr. Belding's office. Once the door was closed, he turned to Slater, "He was holding back on us. We deserved a lot worse."

"Yeah, so what do we do, Preppy? Hunt her down?" Slater asked throwing up his arms.

"That's just it, Slater. We can't fix this with an apology. The last people Joanna will want to see are you and me. Apologizing will probably only make us feel better. We've got to live with what we've done," Zack said as he let his head fall against the Belding's door. He looked up at the ceiling as if searching for an answer. "We cared more about what we wanted, than what she needed."

In his office Mr. Belding couldn't help, but overhear the two boys talking. _You surprise me more and more every day, Morris_. Then, he smiled and went back to his paperwork.


End file.
